With eight children to clothe and feed, David and Margaret had little time for nurturing individual children, but Barrie's childhood was by no means the hand-to-mouth existence he suggested in later autobiographical writings. In fact, with careful planning the Barries were able to send their sons to private schools and to college. Barrie's earliest years were uneventful, but when he was six years old unexpected tragedy struck the family: his older brother David, seven years his senior, died in a skating accident. Margaret was inconsolable, despite her younger son's efforts to replace David in her affections and, in effect, to live David's unfinished life. In his mother's memories David would always be the thirteen-year-old golden boy. The idea of youth frozen forever in time was planted in Barrie's mind to surface years later in
Peter Pan; or, The Boy Who Wouldn't Grow Up (1904) and other works.
Barrie's attempts to take the place of his brother resulted in a new closeness with his mother. After David's death, Margaret spent many months a semi-invalid, and her youngest son spent much time in her room, listening to her reminisce about her own childhood. Margaret's mother had died young, and Margaret, at the age of eight, had been forced to take on the care of a household and a younger brother.
This is a free page. This page contains 194 words. This
biography contains 8,138 words (approx. 27 pages at 300
words per page).
Read the rest of this Biography with our J(ames) M(atthew) Barrie Access Pass.
